Chelsea's new signing Gonzalo Higuain netted his first two Premier League goals in Chelsea's 5-0 thrashing of Huddersfield Town while Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min struck late for a 1-0 win over Newcastle United as they moved into second place.
Pep Guardiola will return to the Nou Camp in the Champions League group stage after his new club Manchester City were drawn against his former Barcelona team on Thursday. The two sides were drawn in Group C alongside Borussia Moenchengladbach and former European champions Celtic in one of the toughest of the eight sections. Spanish coach Guardiola, who won the Champions League twice with Barca, faced the Catalans when he was in charge of Bayern Munich two seasons ago and suffered a 5-3 defeat in the semi-finals.
Juventus launched their bid for a sixth successive league title after their record signing Gonzalo Higuain came off the bench to grab a trademark winner in a 2-1 success over Fiorentina on the opening day of the Serie A season.
Lionel Messi dragged Barcelona back from two goals down by scoring twice to snatch a 2-2 draw at home to Valencia in a thrilling encounter.
The son of former Argentina captain Diego Maradona, rejected a contract offer from the Scottish premier league club.
The 17-year-old forward trained with the club's first team squad on Thursday.
Here are five talking points from the weekend's Premier League action:
Fiorentina conceded a late goal, had David Pizarro sent off and lost their 100 percent Serie A record in a 1-1 draw at home to Cagliari on Sunday, with an injury to Mario Gomez compounding their frustration.
Sterling has scored six goals in five starts for City this season and has impressed with his overall contribution to Guardiola's prolific attack which has struck 29 goals in eight Premier League games.
Argentina are odds-on favourites to win the Copa America for the first time since 1993 by beating Chile in Saturday's final.
IMAGES from soccer matches played in the EPL, La Liga and Serie A on Tuesday.
Inter Milan's Rodrigo Palacio and Mauro Icardi struck in a 2-1 win at Fiorentina on Saturday to secure their struggling side's first away victory in Serie A since early November.
Real fought back after a calamitous own goal from keeper Keylor Navas gave Betis the lead in the 25th minute, just after the Costa Rican escaped a possible red card. Cristiano Ronaldo pulled the hosts level in the 41st with a diving header.
From selfies to fist fights, Rediff.com has the best pictures from the last week snapped right here...
Borussia Dortmund beat Hertha Berlin 3-2 on penalties to reach the German Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday after the match finished 1-1 after extra time.
AC Milan beat visitors Lazio 2-0 to claim consecutive Serie A wins for the first time since February thanks to Carlos Bacca's fifth goal of the season and an M'Baye Niang penalty on Tuesday.
Mario Balotelli is tired of being in the eye of a hurricane, the president of the Italian soccer federation (FIGC) said on Monday after the maverick international became embroiled in another row.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Monday.
Knee injuries have sidelined him for large parts of this season, however, and the Belgium international has started only four Premier League games.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
A Romelu Lukaku hat-trick in a 4-1 win for Everton at Young Boys and a thrilling 3-3 draw between Celtic and Inter Milan.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Romelu Lukakuare still five points off the Champions League places after Antonio Candreva's equaliser rescued a solitary point in a 2-2 draw at Torino in a thrilling Serie A clash on Saturday.
Manchester United flirted with calamity before coasting into the Europa League last 16 as debutant Marcus Rashford helped them overcome an early blow with two goals in a 5-1 home victory over Midtjylland on Thursday.
Irrepressible AS Roma captain Francesco Totti scored twice to haul the Serie A title challengers back from two goals behind against arch-rivals Lazio and earn them a 2-2 draw in a pulsating derby on Sunday.
Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo gave a ringing endorsement of new coach Zinedine Zidane and handed a rebuke to his sacked predecessor Rafa Benitez after Sunday's 5-1 La Liga victory at home to Sporting Gijon. Real have comfortably won both their matches since Zidane took over this month, a 5-0 thrashing of Deportivo La Coruna and Sunday's demolition of lowly Gijon, and Ronaldo said the players had a better relationship with the former Real and France great, who is known as 'Zizou', than with the unpopular Benitez. The former Valencia, Liverpool, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Napoli manager was discarded after less than half a season in the job after an indifferent run of results left Real trailing city rivals Atletico Madrid and champions Barcelona in La Liga. "To be honest, with some coaches you have more empathy than with others," Ronaldo told reporters after netting a double at the Bernabeu. "The truth is, don't ask me why, that the players have more empathy with Zizou," the Portugal forward added.
Ronaldo's replacement Dybala scored in the 77th minute with a goal the Portuguese would have been proud of. After a quick exchange of passes, the Argentine twisted past Alessio Romagnoli and beat Gianluigi Donnarumma with a right foot shot.
Under-fire Rafa Benitez said Real Madrid needed to be more consistent and also accused his players of easing off in games ahead of Sunday's La Liga clash with his former club Valencia. The Spaniard is the most successful coach in Valencia's history. He led them to La Liga titles in 2002 and 2004, when he also won the UEFA Cup, and is sure of a warm welcome when he walks out at the Mestalla.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics torch lighting ceremony in ancient Olympia will be the first in more 35 years to be held without spectators after organisers introduced tighter measures to protect against the coronavirus. Here is a list of international sports events hit by the coronavirus outbreak.
New coach Luciano Spalletti failed to inspire AS Roma as they were held 1-1 at home by bottom club Verona on his debut on Sunday and Juventus notched their 10th Serie A win in a row by hammering Udinese 4-0 away.
World Cup hosts Russia got their Nations League campaign off to a flying start with a 2-1 win away to Turkey thanks to goals from Dennis Cheryshev and Artem Dzyuba on Friday.
Esteban Cambiasso inspired a stirring fightback as Inter Milan struck twice in the last 18 minutes to record a 2-1 victory on Thursday and hand Fiorentina their first Serie A defeat of the season.
Evergreen Francesco Totti, in his 22nd season with AS Roma, scored his first goal of the new campaign to give help them to a 3-1 win at Parma which maintained their 100 percent record in Serie A.
Second-half goals from Arturo Vidal and Eduardo Vargas gave hosts Chile a 2-0 victory over Ecuador.
Maverick striker Mario Balotelli has been fined 10,000 euros for making a provocative gesture to rival Cagliari supporters after scoring against them in AC Milan's 2-1 win on Sunday.
Real Madrid coach Rafa Benitez has a full squad available, including forward Karim Benzema, for Saturday's La Liga Clasico at home to Barcelona.
Barcelona lost for the second straight La Liga game in a 1-0 home reverse against Celta Vigo but there was no such trouble for Manchester City, who beat 10-man Manchester United 1-0 thanks to Sergio Aguero.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Barcelona have been drawn to play Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-finals. The other last-four tie will see Juventus, in their first semi-final since 2003, take on Carlo Ancelotti's Real Madrid, the defending champions.
News of that transpired on and off the football field
